India rejects UN chief's call in Pakistan for resolving Kashmir row as per Security Council resolutions

India on Sunday once again rejected United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s latest call to resolve its dispute with Pakistan in accordance with the Security Council resolutions.

New Delhi rather called upon UN Secretary General to press Pakistan to stop exporting terrorism to India.

Guterres had a meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on Sunday. He referred to United Nations Charter and Security Council’s resolution, while responding to a question from a journalist about ways to resolve India-Pakistan row over Kashmir.

India was quick to react, reiterating its position that no third party could play a role in resolving its dispute with Pakistan. New Delhi also underlined that the only issue that needed to be addressed was illegal occupation of parts of India’s territory in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan.

Guterres said that he was “deeply concerned” over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the tension along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan. He also added that he had “repeatedly stressed the importance of exercising maximum restraint”. “Diplomacy and dialogue remain the only tools that guarantee peace and stability with solutions in accordance with the Charter of United Nations and resolutions of the Security Council,” Guterres was quoted saying by Dawn newspaper of Pakistan. The UN Secretary General added that he had repeatedly reiterated his offer to use his “good offices should both sides ask”.

New Delhi sharply reacted with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issuing a statement reiterating the position of India.

“India's position has not changed. Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and will continue to be an integral part of India,” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the MEA said in New Delhi. “The issue that needs to be addressed is that of vacation of the territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan. Further issues, if any, would be discussed bilaterally. There is no role or scope for third party mediation.”

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government in New Delhi on August 5 moved to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganized the state into Union Territories, Pakistan re-launched its campaign to internationalize its dispute with India. New Delhi, however, so far blocked all attempts by Pakistan and its “iron brother” China to bring back the issue of Jammu and Kashmir back on the formal agenda of the Security Council.

New Delhi has been maintaining that the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan and the 1999 Lahore Declaration had left no scope for the UN or any third party to play any role in resolving the “outstanding issues” between the two South Asian neighbours.